38th United States Congress
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| 38th United States Congress | |
|---|---|
37th ← → 39th | |
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March 4, 1863 – March 4, 1865 | |
| Members | 52 senators 184 representatives 10 non-voting delegates |
| Senate majority | Republican |
| Senate President | Hannibal Hamlin (R) |
| House majority | Republican (through coalition) |
| House Speaker | Schuyler Colfax (R) |
| Sessions | |
| Special[a]: March 4, 1863 – March 14, 1863 1st: December 7, 1863 – July 4, 1864 2nd: December 5, 1864 – March 3, 1865 | |
The 38th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1863, to March 4, 1865, during the last two years of President Abraham Lincoln's first term in office. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1860 United States census. The Senate had a Republican majority, and the House of Representatives had a Republican plurality; Republicans controlled the House by sharing a coalition with Unconditional Unionists.
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Major events
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- American Civil War, which had started in 1861, continued through this Congress and ended later in 1865
- January 8, 1863: Ground broken in Sacramento, California, on the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the United States
- November 19, 1863: Gettysburg Address
- November 8, 1864: President Abraham Lincoln is reelected, defeating George McClellan.
Major legislation
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- April 22, 1864: Coinage Act of 1864, Sess. 1, ch. 66, 13 Stat. 54
- June 25, 1864: Washington County Public Schools Act ("An Act to provide for the Public Instruction of Youth in the County of Washington, District of Columbia, and for other Purposes"), Sess. 1, ch. 156, 13 Stat. 187
- June 30, 1864: Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Sess. 1, 16 Stat. 48
- March 3, 1865: Freedmen's Bureau, Sess. 2, ch. 90, 13 Stat. 507
Major bills not enacted
- Wade–Davis Bill passed both houses July 2, 1864, but pocket vetoed
Constitutional amendments
- January 31, 1865: Approved an amendment to the United States Constitution abolishing slavery in the United States and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification 13 Stat. 567
- Amendment was later ratified on December 6, 1865, becoming the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Treaties ratified
- February 9, 1865: Chippewa Indians, 13 Stat. 393
States admitted and territories organized
States
- June 19, 1863: West Virginia admitted (formed from a portion of Virginia), 13 Stat. 731 (see also 12 Stat. 633)
- October 31, 1864: Nevada admitted, 13 Stat. 749 (see also 13 Stat. 30)
Territories
- May 26, 1864: Montana Territory organized, Sess. 1, ch. 95, 13 Stat. 85
States in rebellion
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Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The Confederacy fielded armies and sustained the rebellion into a second Congress, but the Union did not accept secession and secessionists were not eligible for Congress. Elections held in Missouri and Kentucky seated all members to the House and Senate for the 38th Congress. Elections held among Unionists in Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana were marred by disruption resulting in turnouts that were so low compared with 1860, that Congress did not reseat the candidates with a majority of the votes cast.[1]
- In rebellion 1862–64 according to the Emancipation Proclamation were Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (parts), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia (parts). Tennessee was not held to be in rebellion as of the end of 1862.[2]
Party summary
The count below identifies party affiliations at the beginning of the first session of this Congress, and includes members from vacancies and newly admitted states, when they were first seated. Changes resulting from subsequent replacements are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section.
Senate
During this Congress, two seats were added for each of the new states of Nevada and West Virginia, thereby adding four new seats.
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (D) |
[[Republican Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (R) | [[Unionist politician (American Civil War)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (U) | [[Unconditional Unionist Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (UU) |
|||
| End of [[Script error: No such module "Ordinal". United States Congress|previous congress]] | 11 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 48 | 20 |
| Begin | 10 | 31 | 4 | 3 | 48 | 20 |
| End | 33 | 3 | 4 | 50 | 22 | |
| Final voting share | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | ||
| Beginning of [[Script error: No such module "Ordinal". United States Congress|next congress]] | 11 | 37 | 0 | 1 | 49 | 23 |
House of Representatives
| House seats by party holding plurality in state | |
|---|---|
| Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. Over 80% Democratic | Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. Over 80% Republican |
| Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. 60+% to 80% Democratic | Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. 60+% to 80% Republican |
| Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. Up to 60% Democratic | Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content. Up to 60% Republican |
Before this Congress, the 1860 United States census and resulting reapportionment changed the size of the House to 241 members. During this Congress, one seat was added for the new state of Nevada, and three seats were reapportioned from Virginia to the new state of West Virginia.
| Party (shading shows control) |
Total | Vacant | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (D) |
[[Republican Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (R) | [[Independent Republican Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (IR) | [[Unionist politician (American Civil War)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (U) | [[Unconditional Unionist Party (United States)|Template:US Congress party summary/LBT]] (UU) | Other |
|||
| End of [[Script error: No such module "Ordinal". United States Congress|previous congress]] | 45 | 106 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 183 | 57 |
| Begin | 72 | 85 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 180 | 61 |
| End | 84 | 16 | 183 | 59 | ||||
| Final voting share | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | Script error: No such module "Percentage". | ||
| Beginning of [[Script error: No such module "Ordinal". United States Congress|next congress]] | 40 | 132 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 191 | 51 |
Leadership
Hannibal Hamlin
Senate
- President: Hannibal Hamlin (R)
- President pro tempore: Solomon Foot (R), until April 13, 1864
- Daniel Clark (R), elected April 26, 1864
Majority (Republican) leadership
House of Representatives
- Speaker: Schuyler Colfax (R)
Majority (Republican) leadership
- Republican Conference Chairman: Justin S. Morrill
- Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means: Thaddeus Stevens (R)
Members
This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and representatives are listed by district.
Senate
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Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two years, with one-third beginning new six-year terms with each Congress. Preceding the names in the list below are Senate class numbers, which indicate the cycle of their election. In this Congress, Class 1 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1868; Class 2 meant their term ended in this Congress, requiring reelection in 1864; and Class 3 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring reelection in 1866.
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House of Representatives
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Changes in membership
The count below reflects changes from the beginning of the first session of this Congress.
Senate
- Replacements: 2
- Democratic: no net change
- Republican: no net change
- Unionist: no net change
- Unconditional Union: no net change
- Deaths: 1
- Resignations: 2
- Interim appointments: 1
- Seats of newly admitted states: 4
- Total seats with changes: 4
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|-
| West Virginia (1)
| New seat
| West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863.
Its first Senators were elected August 4, 1863.
| nowrap style="background:#ee99bb" | Peter G. Van Winkle (UU)
| August 4, 1863
|-
| West Virginia (2)
| New seat
| West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863.
Its first Senators were elected August 4, 1863.
| nowrap style="background:#ee99bb" | Waitman T. Willey (UU)
| August 4, 1863
|- | Missouri (3) | nowrap style="background:#ee99bb" | Robert Wilson (UU) | Successor elected for Sen. Waldo P. Johnson November 13, 1863. | nowrap style="background:#ee99bb" | B. Gratz Brown (UU) | November 13, 1863
|- | Virginia (1) | nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | Lemuel J. Bowden (U) | Died January 2, 1864. | Vacant | Not filled this Congress
|-
| Delaware (1)
| nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | James A. Bayard Jr. (D)
| Resigned January 29, 1864, for unknown reasons.
Successor elected January 29, 1864.
| nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | George R. Riddle (D)
| February 2, 1864
|-
| Maine (2)
| nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | William P. Fessenden (R)
| Resigned July 1, 1864, to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
Successor appointed October 27, 1864, to finish the term.
| nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Nathan A. Farwell (R)
| October 27, 1864
|-
| Nevada (1)
| New seat
| Nevada admitted to the Union October 31, 1864.
Its first Senators were elected February 1, 1865.
| nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | William M. Stewart (R)
| February 1, 1865
|-
| Nevada (3)
| New seat
| Nevada admitted to the Union October 31, 1864.
Its first Senators were elected February 1, 1865.
| nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | James W. Nye (R)
| February 1, 1865
|- | Maryland (3) | nowrap style="background:#ee99bb" | Thomas H. Hicks (UU) | Died February 14, 1865. | Vacant | Not filled this Congress.
|}
House of Representatives
- Replacements: 6
- Democratic: no net change
- Republican: no net change
- Unionist: no net change
- Unconditional Union: no net change
- Deaths: 3
- Resignations: 3
- Contested election: 1
- Seats of newly admitted seats: 4
- Total seats with changes: 7
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|-
| Template:Ushr
| Vacant
| Territory organized in previous congress.
Seat remained vacant until December 5, 1864.
| nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Charles D. Poston (R)
| December 5, 1864
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | John W. Noell (UU) | Died March 14, 1863. | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | John G. Scott (D) | December 7, 1863
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | William Temple (D) | Died May 28, 1863. | nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | Nathaniel B. Smithers (UU) | December 7, 1863
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Erastus Corning (D) | Resigned October 5, 1863. | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | John V. L. Pruyn (D) | December 7, 1863
|-
| Template:Ushr
| New state
| West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863.
Seat remained vacant until December 7, 1863.
| nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | Jacob B. Blair (UU)
| December 7, 1863
|-
| Template:Ushr
| New state
| West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863.
Seat remained vacant until December 7, 1863.
| nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | William G. Brown Sr. (UU)
| December 7, 1863
|-
| Template:Ushr
| New state
| West Virginia admitted to the Union June 19, 1863.
Seat remained vacant until December 7, 1863.
| nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | Kellian Whaley (UU)
| December 7, 1863
|- | Template:Ushr | New territory | Territory organized February 1, 1864. | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | William H. Wallace (R) | February 1, 1864
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Owen Lovejoy (R) | Died March 25, 1864. | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Ebon C. Ingersoll (R) | May 20, 1864
|-
| Template:Ushr
| New territory
| Territory organized May 26, 1864.
Seat remained vacant until January 6, 1865.
| nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Samuel McLean (D)
| January 6, 1865
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Francis P. Blair Jr. (R) | Lost contested election June 10, 1864 | nowrap style="background:Template:Party color" | Samuel Knox (UU) | June 10, 1864
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap | William Jayne | Lost contested election June 17, 1864 | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | John B. S. Todd (D) | June 17, 1864
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Henry G. Stebbins (D) | Resigned October 24, 1864. | nowrap style="color:black;background-color:Template:Democratic Party (US)/meta/shading" | Dwight Townsend (D) | December 5, 1864
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Gordon N. Mott (R) | Nevada achieved statehood October 31, 1864 | colspan=2 | District eliminated
|- | Template:Ushr | New state | Nevada admitted to the Union October 31, 1864. | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Henry G. Worthington (R) | October 31, 1864
|- | Template:Ushr | nowrap style="color:black; background-color:Template:Republican Party (US)/meta/shading" | Reuben Fenton (R) | Resigned December 20, 1864, after being elected Governor of New York. | Vacant | Not filled this Congress
|}
Committees
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Senate
- Agriculture (John Sherman, chair)
- Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses of the Senate (James Dixon, chair)
- Claims (Daniel Clark, chair)
- Commerce (Zachariah Chandler, chair)
- Distributing Public Revenue Among the States (Select)
- District of Columbia (James W. Grimes, chair)
- Engrossed Bills (Henry S. Lane, chair)
- Finance (William P. Fessenden, chair)
- Foreign Relations (Charles Sumner, chair)
- Indian Affairs (James Rood Doolittle, chair)
- Judiciary (Lyman Trumbull, chair)
- Manufactures (Zachariah Chandler, chair)
- Military Affairs (Henry Wilson, chair)
- Naval Affairs (John P. Hale, chair)
- Naval Supplies (Select)
- Ordnance and War Ships (Select)
- Overland Mail Service (Select)
- Pacific Railroad (Select) (Jacob M. Howard, chair)
- Patents and the Patent Office (Edgar Cowan, chair)
- Pensions (La Fayette S. Foster, chair)
- Post Office and Post Roads (Jacob Collamer, chair)
- Private Land Claims (Ira Harris, chair)
- Public Buildings and Grounds (Solomon Foot, chair)
- Public Lands (James Harlan, chair)
- Retrenchment (N/A, chair)
- Revolutionary Claims (Morton S. Wilkinson, chair)
- Slavery and the Treatment of Freedmen (Select)
- Tariff Regulation (Select)
- Territories (Benjamin F. Wade, chair)
- Whole
House of Representatives
- Accounts (Edward H. Rollins, chair)
- Agriculture (Brutus J. Clay, chair)
- Banking and Currency (N/A, chair)
- Bankrupt Law (Select)
- Claims (James T. Hale, chair)
- Commerce (Elihu B. Washburne, chair)
- District of Columbia (Owen Lovejoy, chair)
- Elections (Henry L. Dawes, chair)
- Expenditures in the Interior Department (Thomas B. Shannon, chair)
- Expenditures in the Navy Department (Portus Baxter, chair)
- Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Theodore M. Pomeroy, chair)
- Expenditures in the State Department (Frederick A. Pike, chair)
- Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Amos Myers, chair)
- Expenditures in the War Department (Henry C. Deming, chair)
- Expenditures on Public Buildings (John W. Longyear, chair)
- Foreign Affairs (Henry Winter Davis, chair)
- Indian Affairs (William Windom, chair)
- Invalid Pensions (Kellian V. Whaley, chair)
- Judiciary (James F. Wilson, chair)
- Manufactures (James K. Moorhead, chair)
- Mileage (James C. Robinson, chair)
- Military Affairs (Robert C. Schenck, chair)
- Militia (Robert B. Van Valkenburgh, chair)
- Naval Affairs (Alexander H. Rice, chair)
- Patents (Thomas A. Jenckes, chair)
- Post Office and Post Roads (John B. Alley, chair)
- Private Land Claims (M. Russell Thayer, chair)
- Public Buildings and Grounds (John H. Rice, chair)
- Public Expenditures (Calvin T. Hulburd, chair)
- Public Lands (George W. Julian, chair)
- Revisal and Unfinished Business (Sempronius H. Boyd, chair)
- Revolutionary Claims (Hiram Price, chair)
- Revolutionary Pensions (Dewitt C. Littlejohn, chair)
- Roads and Canals (Isaac N. Arnold, chair)
- Rules (Select)
- Standards of Official Conduct
- Territories (James M. Ashley, chair)
- Ways and Means (Thaddeus Stevens, chair)
- Whole
Joint appointments
- Conditions of Indian Tribes (Special)
- Conduct of the War
- Enrolled Bills (Sen. Timothy Howe, chair)
- The Library (Sen. Jacob Collamer, chair)
- Printing (Sen. Henry B. Anthony, chair)
- Senate Chamber and the Hall of the House of Representatives
Caucuses
- Democratic (House)
- Democratic (Senate)
Employees
Legislative branch agency directors
- Architect of the Capitol: Thomas U. Walter
- Librarian of Congress: John Gould Stephenson, until 1864
- Ainsworth Rand Spofford, from 1864
Senate
- Chaplain: Byron Sunderland (Presbyterian), until May 11, 1864
- Thomas Bowman (Methodist), elected May 11, 1864
- Secretary: John W. Forney
- Sergeant at Arms: George T. Brown
House of Representatives
- Chaplain: William H. Channing (Unitarian)
- Clerk: Emerson Etheridge, until December 7, 1863
- Edward McPherson, from December 7, 1863
- Doorkeeper: Ira Goodnow
- Messenger: Thaddeus Morrice
- William D. Todd
- Postmaster: William S. King
- Sergeant at Arms: Edward Ball, until December 7, 1863
- Nehemiah G. Ordway, from December 7, 1863
See also
- 1862 United States elections (elections leading to this Congress)
- 1864 United States elections (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
Notes
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- ^ Special session of the Senate.
References
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- ^ Martis, Kenneth C., "Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress: 1789–1989, 1989 Template:ISBN p. 116.
- ^ Emancipation Proclamation text found at Emancipation Proclamation, "Featured Texts" online at the National Archives and Records Administration. Viewed April 14, 2014.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
External links
- Statutes at Large, 1789–1875
- Senate Journal, First Forty-three Sessions of Congress
- House Journal, First Forty-three Sessions of Congress
- Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
- U.S. House of Representatives: House History
- U.S. Senate: Statistics and Lists
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Congressional Directory for the 38th Congress, 1st Session.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Congressional Directory for the 38th Congress, 2nd Session. 17 April 2021.
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